Eröffnung der Sonderausstellung „Jupp Darchinger – Das Auge der Republik“

In the organizer's words:

On August 6, 2025, Josef Heinrich Darchinger (1925-2013) - often just called Jupp in Rhenish style - would have turned 100 years old. The LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn took this anniversary as an opportunity to pay tribute to Darchinger's life's work and at the same time open up new perspectives on it. In addition to prominent motifs, the exhibition, which can now be seen in a modified form and with a focus on the topic of "protest" at the Friedrich-Ebert-Haus in Heidelberg, also showed lesser-known aspects of his photojournalistic work. The authentic press prints from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Archive of Social Democracy, where Darchinger's estate is kept, are not only interesting in terms of their content and photographic perspective. The photographs, which were all taken by Darchinger himself, also tell stories as objects.

The photojournalist followed the protagonists and social developments in the Federal Republic of Germany like no other. Whether a brief excerpt of an intimate dialog or a look at the supposed fringes of events - Darchinger's perspectives also convey the position he occupied as a photojournalist in Bonn's political scene. In his pictures, however, he has always found a balance between human closeness and journalistic distance, despite his sometimes good personal relationships. Documentary, but sometimes also with an eye for the funny and absurd in the political bubble in the "Bundesdorf" and beyond, he found images for the culture and spaces in which debates were held, alliances formed, in short: politics was made in the Bonn Republic.

Program for the opening on 11 June 2026, 7 pm:

• Welcome: Prof. Dr. Bernd Braun, Managing Director of the Reichspräsident-Friedrich-Ebert-Gedenkstätte Foundation
• Greeting: Dr. Anja Kruke, Director of the Archive of Social Democracy
• Introduction: Dr. Adelheid Komenda, LVR-Landesmuseum Bonn
• Musical contribution: Donadeus Kulms (singer), Filippo Henrich (guitar)

All interested parties are cordially invited!

Free admission.